It first took its distinctive shape under Julius Ceasar. Justinian, incidentally, was a Blues supporter and a not particularly benevolent ruler to the Jews, known for imposing several legal restrictions on them. The Circus Maximus is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy.The stadium is located between the Aventine and Palatine hills and it was largest stadium in ancient Roman Empire. In 532 C.E., the emperor Justinian was nearly toppled in a violent revolt that burnt down half of Constantinople and started as a riot by the Blue and Green factions. At the time the scroll was written, the sport had reached such importance that the various teams had become connected to political and religious factions, and controlled local militias. Apparently, like today, not everybody heeded their exhortations.ДЄlso, perhaps the Jewish involvement in horse racing 1,500 years ago wasnвЂ™t that surprising, given the Roman and Byzantine obsession with sport and racing. It bears adding that the rabbis frowned on horse-racing and certainly wouldn't have approved of resorting to black magic to sway the odds. Positive amulets would be made more typically of gold, silver or copper, engraved with the spell. Our Blue faction hexer hoped that the angel would descend to the race track and stop the Blue horses in their equine tracks.Д«yzantine-era Jews would use amulets, but usually to protect themselves against evil, not to cause it, says Elitzur-Leiman. ' And when the ass saw the angel of theВ Lord, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.' Numbers 22:27 He hoped the Blue horses get mired in the mud, but mainly derived his fond hopes of divine intervention from biblical precedent.

Some bits are missing but the Jewish gambler of yore was betting against the Blue faction, one the color-coded teams that competed in the chariot races, she says. The idea is that the horses would activate the curse while running over it. Then the hexer would inter the nailed curse beneath the hippodrome race track. 'After the tablet was inscribed, people would knock a nail into it вЂ“ another aggressive act of cursing, like voodoo dolls,' she says.

Secondly, not content with painstakingly etching the decidedly long curse in Aramaic, the gambler doubled his odds by rolling up the soft metal scroll and ramming a nail through it. Elitzur-Leiman explains: 'The ancient gamblers wouldn't use gold or silver for that purpose, they used lowly lead to cast hexes.' The tablet had been made of lead, which in and of itself indicated the nefarious purpose of its owner вЂ“ to jinx.

Rome switches to chariot races